Fire lords don't blush in the courtyard
by fissagod
Summary: Sozin's comet has passed. Ozai's jailed for Life and Zuko's the new Fire Lord. He can't seem to get used to anything and he's as dramatic and awkward as the delicate flower that he is, and after 2 months, 5 days and 15 hours of being the Fire Lord, he wishes he could spend more time with Aang.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors note: Thank you for viewing this page woah/ it's the first time i've written an atla fic, and i don't really know if i'll update it. most likely if someone asks me to! please enjoy! (´∀｀) **

" ..It bothers me… even now. "

Zuko rolled onto his other side. He had been awake for hours now, thinking of the past weeks, months, even years. It had exactly been 2 months, 5 days and 15 hours since he had taken the place of Fire lord. He had visited his jailed father twice and had drank tea with his uncle about 7 times. taking care of the nation went just fine and all, but he still felt like something was missing. He hadn't seen Aang for 2 weeks now. He clearly understood that the Avatar would be very busy with traveling around, giving every city his blessings, but Zuko still didn't like it.

"…I should just get over with it and fall asleep" he muttered to himself, rolling onto his other side again. After these 2 months, 5 days and 15 hours he still wasn't used to this bed. Even the thought that the bed had belonged to his father once made him feel uncomfortable.

He would wake up in the middle of the night, breaking out in sweat and feel nauseous all of sudden. The bed sheets were incredibly thick, which caused him to sweat even more. And the curtains were always in his way, they were always closed since he never had the patience to tie them properly to the edges of the bed, so he decided to give up on that. These things were all uncomfortable, however, its biggest inconvenience was the size of the bed. It was unbelievably big.

"who'd even need a bed this goddamn big?" he thought to himself as he sat up and glared at the huge empty space in the bed. It annoyed him even thinking about it and he got out of bed, pushing aside the curtains that he once again failed to properly tie. His hand swung to his head in a rather desperate movement and he whined in the most dramatic way imaginable for a fire lord. "I could go for a walk in the cool, breezy courtyard right now.."

He left his bedroom, which was also unnecessarily big, and made his way out of the red with golden decorated corridor, down to the stairs. the rug on the stairs had a fascinating pattern, with lots of flames, dragons and other legendary creatures that were known from fire diverse nation tales, that were mostly used as bedtime stories. He didn't feel like staring at it, at least not at the current moment. He had to admit that he did take the time to look at the woven creation once or twice, but right now he just wanted to get outside.

He made his way further down, passed some other corridors and a big hallway until he finally arrived at the door that led to the courtyard.  
"dang.. "he grunted as he let out a tired sigh. "this place sure is big.. ". He fiddled around with the doorknob until it opened, his hands slightly shaking for a reason he didn't understood himself. He assumed it'd be nothing but a little stress coming out of his body.

He felt a slight breeze on his face as soon as he stepped outside, leaving the door open behind him. His feet moved in a slow pace, knowing exactly where they'd be heading. The sound was nothing but a gentle tap on the stone slabs that created a path through the recently mowed grass. It smelled good. It smelled incredibly good. Shit.. he was glad he went outside.

He came to a stop and looked at the pond where he and his Mother had fed the Turtle ducks years ago. He looked at his leg, that was bitten by a mother Turtle duck once and curled his lips into a small smile. He kneeled down at the edge of the pond and looked at moon's reflection in the water."..Azula wanted to throw rocks at them.." he said to the pond. Or to himself, he didn't really knew why he spoke out loud just now but that didn't really matter. All that mattered was that he would get his rest now, he thought as he closed his eyes.

"Throw rocks at who..?" it sounded from behind.

Zuko jumped up at the sudden noise and turned around before he grabbed the individual's throat in response. Aang squeaked from his sudden movements as his eyes became very confused. "L- Lord….? ". Shit. Zuko let go of him immediately and sighed at the still confused nomad in front of him. For some reason, having Aang call him 'Firelord' really bothered him. However, he was really glad to see him.

It occurred to his mind that he wanted to ask him so many things. How are you? Where have you been? Have you been eating well? What did you do during your absence? Did you make any new friends? What are you doing here? Are you staying for the night? Have you eaten yet? Are you really sure you've been eating well?

He could go on and on, asking him the things that he thought of during his absence, but he didn't. instead he put on a serious face and answered him.

"..The Turtle ducks." He said with a calm voice. "…..Huh? ". Zuko rolled his eyes at the confused look on Aang's face, doing his best not to grin. Shit.. why did he had such a hard time acting cool around him? "She wanted to throw rocks at the Turtle ducks" he said again. Aang tilted his head in confusion but didn't ask any further questions. They remained silent for a while, creating an awkward tension. Zuko intentionally thought of how to break it without sounding like a complete idiot, until Aang spoke again.

His voice came out hesitatingly but he managed it to speak up. ".. Aren't you going to ask me anything?..." he asked quietly. Zuko took a deep breath as he thought of a proper sentence to reply with. He had such a hard time thinking of something that wouldn't express exactly how he felt but that would still meant something close to the same, that Aang spoke again. "….It.. It's okay if you don't really care.. uhh.. I-I mean you're busy too and all ….and talking about such things must be tiring.." his voice sounded disappointed, but he tried to smile at Zuko in an attempt into letting him know that it was fine, However his face didn't look happy at all.

Zuko screamed from the inside. "Fuck. He looks like he's about to burst out in tears, fuck! What do I do?! What do I say?! Shit.. shit SHIT!". He looked from Aang's cheeks, which had turned slightly red, to his already watery eyes. "Is he just tired? No.. I need to say something.. how do I comfort him? Hug him? No, NO! that'd be too weird.. it has to be something casual.. like ? ?" his thoughts became too much and before he knew it he had slapped himself in the face, leaving Aang very shocked. "Zuko!? Are you okay?" he quickly asked him as he stepped closer to the confused Fire lord.

Zuko noticed. He looked up at Aang and sighed in relief. Aang had called him by his name… "Good.." he thought as he placed a hand on the Avatar's shoulder, putting up the most serious face ever. He just thought of the perfect reply. "What makes you think I don't care about you..?" he asked the boy with a voice that sounded warmer than usual. He noticed Aang's cheeks and nose getting redder, and watched him as he nervously spoke. "W-W.. Well.. " Aang stammered out, "You're like.. the Fire lord and all.. and… ehm.. you know.. I just figured you'd be too busy..".

Zuko swallowed his breath. He knew that Aang was a kid that could be really straight to the point but he didn't expect him to be so nervous and fragile. Zuko felt his cheeks glowing a little and realized he would most likely be blushing. The hand, that even now was still placed on Aang's shoulder, became a bit sweaty. He cursed to himself as he avoided any possible eye contact with the blushing boy in front of him and slowly took his hand back. He couldn't possibly be thinking that Aang was cute… right? Of course Aang was a cute guy to see, but the 'cute' he was thinking of was something totally different.

He cursed again, this time out loud. Aang frowned at him as his confidence visibly started to fade. Zuko wanted to reply, he really did, but his head was still a mess. First of all why as Aang blushing anyway? And why the hell was he responding to it? Why had he been thinking about Aang for the past weeks? His palms became sweaty and his face slightly redder. There had to be a logical explanation to this, however there was only one thing that came to mind.

"Fuck.." he grumbled again, and brought his hand to his face. "…Aang.. ?" he muttered. "….. Yeah? ". "…You're currently.. 13 years old.. right? " zuko softly asked him while he didn't look up from his hand. " ..Uuhmm… well, no! actually I'm 113! " Aang proudly replied with a smile, in contrast to Zuko, who let out a loud groan.

He couldn't believe what a perverted pedophile he was. He was 18, for god's sake. He looked up to Aang, who was staring back at him. " Why did you groan..? " he asked him, slightly concerned. How was he going to tell him? well, he obviously wasn't.. but what would he tell him in reply?! He stood up straight and decided to totally avoid the subject. " How have you been..? " he asked him in the hope that he would go along with the sudden change of the subject.

Aang, who was completely surprised by the sudden question, nodded at him and smiled. " It was really cool! Everyone welcomed me instead of trying to capture me and all! I also gave a lot of blessings, it was sometimes a bit tiring but everyone was really kind to me! ". "I'm glad to hear.. ..Have you been eating well..? ". Aang became very excited, the more he told Zuko about his traveling from the last 2 weeks, the more he smiled.

Zuko noticed himself blushing like crazy and sighed. he prepared himself to ask a more selfish question. He thought to himself that it had to be a direct one. Just when Aang had stopped talking he quicly asked him in the most gentle way he could pull off " Did you miss me..? ". Aang stared at him, it took some time before the question actually got to him. instead of being embarrassed this time, he immediately spoke up. " Of course I did! ..why do you think I'm here? To throw rocks at the Turtle ducks? " He grinned at the Hotman.

Zuko's face felt like it had steam coming off. His confidence.. his pride.. His attitude.. he felt as if all of it was immediately erased by Aang's words. Now he really didn't know what to say anymore. Why did he even asked that stupid question?! Fuck! This was so uncool. He felt like a teenage schoolgirl that had just confessed to their big love or something like that. Shit, he felt like he was sinking into his shoes.

"…. Are you okay..? " the confused kid spoke. Zuko shook his head. " ..what's wrong? ". Zuko looked up at him. he noticed that Aang looked worried, and caught himself thinking that Aang was _really _cute. He spaced out for a bit, thinking about kissing Aang's beautiful face. Fuck. He quickly shook his head again. " I'm sorry.." he growled at the boy. The way he said it made it sound sarcastic, however, it wasn't. "Sorry for what..? Zuko.. what's going on? " Aang asked, getting more concerned now.

"….No.. You know what.." he thought. "Now was the time to be the grown up that you are and just get over with it." Zuko thought to himself. He was _the_ Fire lord for god's sake. The least he could to was to man up a bit. It's all or nothing, he concluded to himself and faced the confused Aang properly. It took about a few minutes or so to build up the courage to actually speak, but in the end he did it.

" ..Aang.. ". " …. Yes? ". Zuko noticed himself getting nervous but he was determined to properly tell Aang what was going on. He took a deep breath and finally, _finally_ spoke up. "..I like you.". "..oh? well.. I like you too..?" the still confused airbender replied to him. "shit.. I wish I would be inside, inspecting the rag on the stairs now" he nervously thought, but it didn't came up in his mind to go back now.

"..it's a different kind of like.. ". Aang's eyes widened. ".. ..wai-.. as.. as in like-like..? !" he stuttered. Zuko looked away. He didn't want to see Aang's expression. Who cared if this would make him less of a man? He just really didn't wanted to see it. He was sure this was going to be the end of their friendship, until he felt a small posture wrapped around his own. He felt his body being pressed against something thin and warm. It was after that moment that he realized that Aang was hugging him. "… ..me too…" an overly excited voice said.


	2. Chapter 2

**authors note: it took me over a year to finally write something again, and I'm sorry for the very long wait! In the previous chapter I wrote that Zuko was 18, however that was a miscalculation. It was supposed to say 17. I've got a pretty solid storyline in my head for now, so I'm sure new chapters won't take too long! Thank you for reading, and I hope it exceeds your expectations.**

"…so.. are you saying that you'll be leaving here soon?" Zuko asked with difficulty in his words.

Aang and Zuko were sitting at the royal breakfast table, both seated at the other end. It had been four days and some hours since Aang had arrived. Three hours to be exactly, though that was something that didn't really matter. No one would say that it had been "four days and three hours". At least most people wouldn't.

Zuko glanced up to get a glimpse of Aang's rather troubled expression. His glance went from Aang's face to his plate, and Zuko noticed that he hadn't even finished half of his breakfast. A slight frown appeared on his face as he looked back up at Aang. Why wasn't he eating? Perhaps because he just delivered bad news? But.. would that be a reason not to eat?

"Aren't you hungry?" he asked after a long hesitation to speak up. "The food was prepared by the royal cook, who really put some effort into making this. And... It's really good if I may say so myself. I even asked them not to serve you any meat, becau-" Zuko was interrupted by a lovely smile that was followed by a tender voice. "It's very appetizing, thank you.".

Was that supposed to make him stop worrying? It didn't clear things up for Zuko at all, in fact it confused him even more. Why was Aang being so polite all of a sudden? He thought they were in a.. well.. kind of _different _relationship after the talk they had four days and three hours ago. Had Zuko already messed things up? Shit.. this was definitely worrying him greatly. "There is no need to be so.. ehm.. polite." He said in reply. Crap. Why did he always have to feel so awkward in these kind of situations? It was lame.

Aang once again smiled and brought one hand to the back of his ear to scratch it a little. "Sorry.. It's just that I was pretty worried about how you'd react. It's not like I want to leave, but I don't really have any other choice." He admitted. "What do you mean with 'you don't have any other choice'?" Zuko immediately asked. Aang sounded very serious, he thought. Was he being forced to go somewhere? By whom? Maybe he was being threatened or even blackmailed? It was very clear that Zuko was overthinking the entire thing from just a look at his face, and Aang got up from his seat.

"The world needs me right now. It's.. my responsibility as The Avatar to make sure that the world is in Balance, and the Earth Kingdom is still recovering from the war. It's important that I do anything I can to help them." He said before walking towards Zuko's side of the table. Aang seemed to be very serious and determined about this, however Zuko still didn't want him to just.. leave. At least not this soon. He knew that this was a very selfish and greedy thought, because Aang was absolutely right, but.. that didn't mean he couldn't try to find an alternative solution, right?

"I could send soldiers to The Earth Kingdom to help them re-build what has been destroyed. Therefore you don't have to go and everything will be solved perfectly." He said without thinking his words through. However, Aang frowned deeply at Zuko's words. "No, you can't. Do you think the people from The Earth Kingdom will trust the people who are the reason they have to recover? This isn't just about re-building the towns and cities. These people need emotional guidance into acceptance and peace. It's not easy for the other nations to re-cover from a war, Zuko. They didn't live like the Fire Nation did. They can't just go back to being stable in a matter of weeks. And sending former enemies to build them some things isn't going to help them."

Zuko was completely silenced by Aang's words. His idea suddenly sounded incredibly bad and stupid, and he actually felt embarrassed for even suggesting it. He looked away in silence and tried to think of how it would be for the other nations to recover right now. But he didn't know how to feel. Sure, he had been in Ba Sing Se for a while but those few months were absolutely nothing compared to 100 years of war. How embarrassing.. he couldn't even imagine what other people were going through. Aang soon noticed that he had been a bit harsh, lowered his head and spoke again, this time in a very soft voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get so.. intense. It's not your fault."

Zuko shook his head and stared at his empty plate. Of course Aang would get defensive on a subject like this. "I'm the one who should apologise. I'm eh.. still just a bit new to this whole 'helping' thing. I think uncle would by far be a much better Firelord than I am.. He's.. you know? Really good at knowing what's the right thing to do and all that kind of stuff. Meanwhile I just wear a royal hairpiece and screw up a lot."

A warm hand on Zuko's shoulder made him look up to the person who was now standing next to him. For some reason Aang's hand felt very comforting and supporting. Hell, it even felt as if his body had become a lot lighter. Was this some kind of magic Avatar spell? "You will be an amazing Firelord." Aang said in a fully convinced tone. "What do you think I did when I first found out I was the Avatar..? I didn't even.. well-, I ran away from all my responsibilities. Right now you're already doing better then I did at first!"

His words greatly encouraged Zuko. Not just because these were very kind words, but because it was Aang who said them. He got up from his seat and they both smiled. After a slight hesitation Aang pulled Zuko into an embrace. Zuko, who almost caught himself snuggling Aang, returned this hug gladly. After about eleven and a half seconds of hugging Aang let go to face Zuko again, his cheeks turning a little rosy. "I seriously like you, so please wait for my return." He said without any stuttering or the slightest bit of hesitation. Zuko's entire face flushed a colour far from just rosy, and he merely nodded. "Yeah.. I.. I will. ..you should finish your breakfast though."

With this said they spent the entire day together doing nothing but talk and loiter around. The evening soon came and Aang went to sleep in the guest bedroom, which left Zuko alone again in his huge bed with the annoying curtains. This time though, he slept with a completely different feeling. The bed didn't seem that big as it did before. The curtains suddenly weren't that annoying. The room didn't feel that empty anymore. Zuko didn't feel that alone.

Morning arrived faster than they both would have liked, and it was time for Aang to leave. Just outside the royal palace, Appa was chewing on some hay and waiting for Aang to take off. Zuko was waiting in the guest bedroom's door opening while Aang had just packed all of his belongings. "I promise to write you as much as possible." Aang said while walking up to Zuko, who didn't exactly seem too excited about his departure. Zuko sighed briefly and placed his hand on Aang shoulder this time. "I think you should head out soon." He said, trying to be optimistic.

Aang nodded and together they walked towards the Palace doors. "Zuko.." Aang said. "Will you really wait for me while I'm gone? Because I'm really serious about what I said." A baffled look glanced down upon Aang. "Well, yeah? Didn't I eh.. already say so..?" Zuko asked him, somewhat confused about why Aang was saying this again. "I just wanted to make sure." Again, Zuko was confused. Make sure what? Did he miss something? Did Aang say something important when he wasn't paying attention? Or is it just a way of speech? Shit. This leaving but waiting stuff was very conf- Zuko couldn't even finish the sentence in his head. Aang had gotten up to his toes and softly pressed his lips against Zuko's for a second. Zuko could swear that his heart just stopped for a moment. Time seemed to have frozen and all he could observe was Aang. Shit.. how he wished that this second could last for eternity.

However that wasn't the case. Aang parted after about three seconds to witness a rather flustered Firelord. All Aang did was grin a little and said one last thing. "Be prepared for when I come back." Then he left. Zuko watched him take off while that last sentence only lingered through his head. He wasn't really sure how to interpret it, but now he'd have more than enough time to think about it. Aside from his duties as Firelord, that was.

The next year was nothing but a busy one. In fact, Zuko was so busy that he only had one day off in the whole week. He didn't spend his time sitting on a Pillow like his Father, Grandfather and Great-grandfather did. In fact it was quite the opposite. Zuko went from officer to officer, general to whatnot and spent most of his time thinking of solutions that would actually help people. His only day with a little relaxation was Sunday, his day off. On Sundays he would mostly spend his time with his uncle. The sound of the Tsungi Horn ucle played sure brought back a lot of memories.. aside from that he'd read Aang's letters if any would come in. A year passed and Zuko's hard work had certainly paid off. In fact, he had done such a great job that he now had a lot of free time every day. And just like that the days suddenly began to feel longer again.

Sundays would be like any other day. Zuko began to re-read some of Aang's previous letter. No, all of them actually. Multiple times even. The worst part about all of this was that Aang never stayed at one location for longer than a week or two, so Zuko couldn't even write him back. Sometimes he wouldn't hear from him for weeks, and stayed up at night worrying about if he was alright. It absolutely sucked. Being the Firelord was now officially the _most _boring job in the world. All he still had to do was attend army meetings with the generals and commanders, and visit places for special occasions or events. Zuko hoped that Aang would come back soon, but in the end another six or seven months passed.

A small beam of light shimmered through the curtains and woke him up. Morning..? great, that was just what he needed; another Sunday. Zuko grunted and got out of bed. This day was going to be absolutely worthless, just like the others. As soon as he walked out of his bedroom he could hear the voices of staff members discussing his birthday party. Oh- right. He'd turn eighteen next week. Zuko wasn't too excited about this himself though, and decided to take a very long bath before visiting his uncle. His long bath turned out to be even longer than he actually intended. He had noticed that Sunday slowed him down a lot, especially lately.

After Zuko got out of the bath and was properly dressed, he paid his uncle a visit. The breeze outside actually felt very refreshing, and he decided to walk instead of taking a ride. It was a nice day after all, so there was no need of getting lazy. Not right now at least. His afternoon was surprisingly pleasant, and Zuko had some very good words with his uncle. And not to forget a very good cup of tea. After spending a couple of hours at Iroh's place he decided that it was time to go back and see if he could be of any use. However, when Zuko got back to the palace this was not the case. Disappointed, he found himself thinking of taking a walk in the courtyard, and maybe feed some turtle ducks. He hoped that it would take his mind off things, but it didn't really. All he could think about was how long it had been, and that wasn't even a question really. Eighteen months, one week and four days. It had ben eighteen months, one week and four days since he'd last seen Aang.

He sighed deeply and crumbled a piece of bread into the palm of his hand to feed the turtle ducks with in the familiar pond. This courtyard looked exactly the same as eighteen months ago. Well, even the same as ten years ago. Big stone slabs which created a path through the always freshly mowed grass. Some big rocks, a pond with square stones at the edge and a few big trees. That all surrounded by four big walls. It had always been the same, and he doubted if it would ever change. "not unless the next Firelord is planning onto some serious redecorating." He muttered to himself.

"Redecorate what?" a very familiar yet different voice said behind his back.

Zuko immediately tensed up. Was it really…? Could it really be? He turned around only to be greeted by a big smile on a definitely taller bald guy with a blue arrow on his head. They hugged as soon as the eye contact was made, and not just for a quick eleven and a half seconds. No. they hugged for – well.. maybe even a minute. Zuko couldn't even tell, and it really didn't matter. Aang was back.

After they had let go of each other, the smiles were still fully shining on both of their faces. Aang was the first one to speak, in a voice that was certainly lower than Zuko could remember. "You let your hair grow." He said, on which Zuko replied "you haven't.". He took Aang inside to offer him some food and a drink, and eventually the two caught up on eighteen months of being apart. "I'm glad that I could make it here before your birthday!" Aang said with a bigger smile on his face. The only response Zuko gave was a mere shrug. He wasn't really looking forward to becoming older, however what more responsibilities were there to take? It wasn't like it would change anything. Maybe he just felt a little.. Blue because he missed Aang's birthday instead. Which- actually made him come up with a great idea. No, a tremendous idea! "Aang" he said while looking at the guy sitting next to him. "I want to celebrate both of our birthdays at the celebration.". "..Both? but my birthday was months ago. Though if you insist…?" Aang replied while a little confused. Zuko however didn't think it was a weird idea at all, and was even getting a little excited about this.

Night soon fell and after having dinner together Zuko asked a staff member to get the guest bedroom ready, however Aang interrupted and told them it wouldn't be necessary. Zuko was rather confused by this though, and frowned a little at him. "What are you saying? Aren't you staying for the night?". He only got more anxious when Aang burst out into laughter and patted Zuko's back. Was he.. laughing at him? Did Zuko say something funny? Wait- was Aang going to leave again? Was it obvious that he was going to leave from the start? "We can just sleep in the same room, right?" Zuko heard him say, and looked up at him. ".. But I only have one be- ..no." Aang raised one eyebrow when Zuko had probably realised what he meant. "no?" he asked him.

Zuko however didn't know how to bring this other than raising his voice, thus that was what he did. "No! absolutely NOT. Aang, you're _way_ too young for-" he stopped. Zuko stopped because Aang might not even be thinking about that, and he didn't want to give him any wrong ideas. "Too young to sleep next to you? You think?" Zuko shook his head. Actually, he might agree on this one. Sleeping next to Aang after eighteen months would be.. "That would be very nice." He said as he placed a hand on Aang shoulder. He smiled, but before Zuko could realise it tender lips had already met his own again. Aang had placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder as well, however took this kiss a bit further that Zuko would ever have intended. His mind went completely blank the second he realised that this wasn't just a faint smooch. He felt the lips moving against his own, and couldn't help but to give in to the movement. It was absolutely unbelievable how pleasant this particular feeling was. A few minutes of this so called kissing had passed and Aang suddenly remembered something more important. He broke the kiss only to immediately speak.

"Hey, Now that I think of it, I brought you something from The Earth Kingdom. Just give me a second, I'll go get it." And with that said, Aang left the dining room.

**authors note: Thank you so much for reading! What you can expect about this fic is that it's going to be as realistic as I can imagine how their relationship would develop from now on, and oh boy I sure did spend some time on that. Chapters will probably have time skips in them because I'd really like to work up till the end, and I hope story will proceed to exceed your expectations! Feel free to message me about feedback or theories, because I can never have enough headcanons. Max.**


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